There is no money for medicines for death
The state no longer has funds for cancer vaccines
Marina Kuzina, Federal News Agency
Antitumor vaccines of the St. Petersburg Research Institute of Oncology. Petrova prolongs the life of patients even with aggressive forms of cancer.
Patients with sarcoma live for eight to ten years, which is fantastic in itself, since with such a diagnosis, mortality is usually equal to morbidity, and patients "burn out" very quickly. But now the state has no money to create such vaccines.
According to the Research Institute of Oncology, they have been working on antitumor vaccines for almost twenty years. Over the years, 15 vaccines have been created at the Center for Cell Technologies of the Research Institute, of which only two are used today due to underfunding. It should be noted that the Research Institute of Oncology specializes in cellular immunotherapy of melanoma, soft tissue sarcoma, colon cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, breast cancer and lung cancer. According to Irina Baldueva, MD, head of the Scientific Department of Oncoimmunology and the Center for Cellular Technologies, the center's specialists create antitumor vaccines individually for each patient.
"Such drugs are manufactured by specialists of our center on the basis of the patient's own cells. In medicine, they are called dendritic, they are able to activate the patient's immune system, teach it to destroy the tumor," said I. Baldueva.
Treatment with such a vaccine is carried out in courses, the frequency of which is determined by the doctor. Immunotherapy is prescribed in cases when the possibilities of standard treatment are exhausted.
Today, the specialists of the Research Institute, who have treated more than a thousand people with individual vaccines, can confidently declare the real possibility of prolonging the life of patients even with such a terrible diagnosis as soft tissue sarcoma. After therapy with the latest generation of antitumor vaccine, patients with the third or fourth stages of cancer live up to ten years.
Non-fictional stories
Such an example is quite indicative. In 2009, a 53-year-old man was admitted to the Oncology Research Institute with a diagnosis of chondrosarcoma of the right shin, metastases were found in the lungs and ribs. The patient underwent four operations, including amputation of the right leg and isolated metastasectomy and chemoperfusion of the lung. Despite the active standard treatment, the disease progressed and reached stage IV. It would seem that man is doomed.
But since November 2011, the clinic's doctors have started treating the patient with dendritic cell vaccines. After 41 injections, the disease has stopped progressing and today does not threaten the patient's life.
Vladimir Igorevich (that's the patient's name) is a mechanical engineer. Currently, he does not work (a disabled person of the first group), but walks independently (on a prosthesis) and drives a car with manual control.
Tatiana Konstantinovna, a resident of the Leningrad region, was diagnosed with a terrible diagnosis at the age of 48. In the summer of 2011, she was diagnosed with melanoma of the skin of her back, and metastases reached as far as the soft tissues of her neck. The woman underwent three operations, including the removal of supraclavicular lymph nodes. But, despite surgical interventions, the disease progressed to stage III. In 2011-2012, she received 12 injections of autologous dendritic cell vaccine in combination with cyclophosphamide. As a result, the disease stopped progressing, the condition stabilized.
Now Tatiana is a housewife, she is actively engaged in the manufacture of various hand-made things: interior items, furniture, toys in various techniques, as well as floristry. "The diagnosis forced me to do something that I haven't been able to do for a long time," she notes.
Despite dozens of such happy stories, doctors claim that the vaccine is not a panacea and cannot help already dying patients, its effectiveness is about 40%. In order for the drug to start working, it takes time (3-4 months) and vitality.
If you want to live, cook half a million
Antitumor vaccine is a huge achievement of domestic medicine. Such developments have always been supported by the state. But now there is no money for it. Now this type of treatment does not fall under the VMP (High-tech care) program. Patients pay for treatment with dendritic cells from their own funds. Only children receive autologous dendritic cell vaccines for free.
Scientists are looking for grants and patrons, and patients pay for treatment out of their own pocket. The cost of one injection of the drug reaches 50 thousand rubles, an annual course, including diagnostic examinations between vaccinations, costs half a million. True, in the USA, the course of introduction of a cellular vaccine costs 93 thousand dollars (more than 6 million rubles), but this does not make it easier for Russians.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
15.02.2017